Douglas Luiz gave Aston Villa the lead on 30 minutes with his driven strike before he doubled their advantage six minutes after half-time from the spot.
West Ham United halved the deficit courtesy of Jarrod Bowen’s deflected strike six minutes later and they were then in the ascendancy.
However, Villa restored their two-goal advantage with Ollie Watkins’ ruthless strike before Leon Bailey added the icing on top of the cake for the hosts who now go up to fifth place.
Hammers need to keep building
West Ham now sit in ninth place following their defeat with it only being their third Premier League loss of the season.
Despite having stages in the second half where they were probing for the equaliser, it was Villa who had the clinical finishing touch to seal the three points.
When questioned after the match, David Moyes admitted Aston Villa had more quality in the final third.
“I think if you have seen how they have been playing for the last six months, they have got that (attacking quality),” the Scotsman said.
“We are still trying to build a team – we started the season well and a lot of good things have been said about us.
“But I know because I am the one that sees it everyday and there is a lot of things we need to do better.
“Today was a game against a side that we hope we may be competing with but they look as if they were at a different level than we were today.”
Regretting not taking the chances they had
Moyes also felt that his side didn’t have the attacking quality that they have shown in previous games and he also looks at the errors leading to goals.
“The second was really disappointing but we were 1-0 (down) at the time and we had done okay but in the second half we had great opportunities to make chances,” the ex-Manchester United boss explained.
“We have had that in some games at home this season, we have had it away from home as well, we’ve gone to Brighton (& Hove Albion) and we have made the chances count.
“Today we got the chances to make those moments but when we got a good opportunity to pick out a good cross or to find somebody in the box, we didn’t have that today."
Villa’s clinical finishing touch
The Hammers looked to be getting back into proceedings before Ollie Watkins, in an excellent vein of form, put the East London-based side to the swore.
Moyes was disappointed that his side couldn't captalise on being on top.
"If you look at it, it was really unlucky," insisted the West Ham boss.
"The boy hits a diagonal pass and it bounces to John McGinn who plays in Ollie Watkins and we are done.
"It still shouldn't have happened like that but that is how quick the game can change.
"It was a really quick counter-attack and they got the goal and we have done that to other teams ourselves.
"There was a period where we were better, where we had a bit of the ball but we haven't been clean enough to make them count."
Previewing Thursday’s trip to Greece
West Ham are next in action as they make the trip to Greece to take on Olympiacos in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night.
The Hammers are unbeaten in their group so far after overcoming the first tests of Bačka Topola and Freiburg.
Moyes is eager to bounce back and continue a successful run in European competition.
"It is going to be a really difficult game in midweek but we need to dust ourselves down from this one and get ourselves ready," he said.
"The Premier League is always our bread and butter but if we can try and do what we have done in Europe in the last couple of years, that is my aim."